Roof seaming machine



Jmm mm 5. w. @wmmw 39mm ROOF SEAMING MACHINE Filed April 13, 1968 4 smew-shw 1 ENVENMRQ 5mm 04 0F 6120M 0/1/12 m mm s. o. GRQNLUND 3,41%

ROOF SEAMING MACHINE Filed April 12, 1968 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 JNVENTOR. 51/5 0.40; Gem Lawn my WJW (Mm. fi, 1970 s. o. GRONLUND 3,487,799

ROOF SEAMING MACHINE Filed April 12, 1968 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 JNVENTOR.

. Jan. 6, 1970' s. o. GRONLUND ROOF SEAMING MACHINE,

4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed April 12, 1968 INVENTOR SVEA/ 0. .0: GAO/VL mm United States Patent 3,487,799 ROOF SEAMING MACHINE Sven Olaf Griinlund, Marumsgatan 16, Skara, Sweden Filed Apr. 12, 1968, Ser. No, 721,024 int. Cl. B2111 39/02, 19/04 U.S. Cl. 11355 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The present invention relates to roof seaming machines for forming standing seams to interconnect adjacent roofing sheets and is of the kind comprising a carriage with pair-wise arranged rolls which successively perform the seaming operation when the carriage is moved along the upstanding sheet flangeS. One of the rolls of each pa r, hereinbelow termed the folding roll, is adapted to be (118- placed outward relative to the other roll, herein termed the counter roll, and is acted upon by a compression spring such as to be biased toward the counter roll and to assist in folding the upstanding sheet flange or sheet flanges for producing a single or double seam. Accordingly, one of the rolls must be movable towards and away from the other roll in order to enable the spring to act on the folding roll and to enable the folding roll and the counter rock to adjust themselves to various thicknesses of the seam.

In the roof seaming machines hitherto used, the springs act constantly on the folding rolls and this means that the machine must enter on the flanges at one end thereof and when stopping the seaming operation, the machine must be moved along the whole length of the seam to one of its ends where the rolls are disengaged from the seam. The spring force on the folding roll is so great that when the seam is pressed between the folding rolls and the counter rolls, the machine cannot be lifted from the seam.

The object of this invention is to eliminate the dlsad vantage of having a machine which cannot be disengaged from the seam at any desired place along the length of the sheet flanges or seam.

To this end, the machine according to the invention is characterized by the fact that the compression spring is mounted between a stationary abutment and an axially displaceable abutment which in turn is provided to transmit the spring force to the adjacent displaceable roll, the

axially displaceable abutment forming one end of a Shaft passing axially through the spring and having its other end connected to a device adapted to rapidly shift the shaft to either of two axial end positions, one of the end positions being the operative end position in which the spring actuates the folding roll and the other end position being a retracted end poseition in which the displaceable abutment has been retracted from its engagement with the folding roll to provide a free gap between the folding roll and the counter roll. Accordingly, the springs may be rapidly moved to their released position to enable the machine to be lifted from the seam when desired, or placed directly on any place along the seam.

An embodiment of the invention is described hereinbelow with reference to the accompanying drawing.

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic perspective view of the machine according to the invention riding along two upstanding sheet flanges to provide a seam.

FIG. 2 is a lateral view of the machine with the upper part shown in section and the lower part unbroken. FIG. 3 is a top view of the machine with the cover of the carriage omitted and partly shown in horizontal section along a plane through the axes of the springs acting upon the shafts of the rolls. FIG. 4 is a forward end view of the machine. FIG. 5 is a vertical cross section along a plane through the axes of rotation of the first pair of rolls. FIGS. 6, 7 and 8 illustrate in detail the second, third and fourth pair of rolls, respectively, as viewed in a vertical transverse projection of the carriage. FIG. 9 is a detail view of the device for rapidly shifting the spring between its operative and released position, respectively, and FIG. is an exploded perspective view of the details of the device in FIG. 9.

In the embodiment illustrated, the carriage comprises a frame block or frame 1 which may be rectangular and the ends of which are provided with brackets 2 for supporting runners 3 adapted to support and guide the carriage on the roofing sheets to be connected by seams. The carriage has a cover 4 through which extends a shaft 5 which is mounted in the cover and which is connected to a drive motor 5a. On the lower side of the carriage there are four pairs of folding and counter rolls 6a, 6b, 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b and 9a, 9b. The folding rolls 6a, 7a, 8a and 9a are carried by shafts 10 which are mounted for lateral swinging in the frame, whereas the counter rolls 6b, 7b, 8b and 9b are secured to shafts 11 which are non-displaceably mounted in the frame block 1. There are further provided means to overturn the upstanding flanges of the sheets to be secured in cooperation with the folding rolls and counter rolls, said means comprising two edge folding rolls 6c and 7c mounted on transverse shafts 12 and 14, respectively. The shaft 12 is journalled in a bearing bushing 15 (FIG. 5) secured to the frame block 1, whereas the shaft 14 is mounted on an arm 16, one end of which is secured to a transverse shaft 17 which is mounted in bushings 19 in a bore 20 in the frame block 1. The other end of the arm 16 is acted upon by a spring 21 which bears on a projection 22 on the inside of the cover 4.

Keyed onto the upper end of each shaft 10 and 11 is a toothed wheel or gear 23, and the drive shaft 5 has secured to it a pinion 24 which meshes with the gears 23 on the shafts 11 on either side of the pinion 24. By means of intermediate toothed wheels or gears 25, these gears 23 in turn mesh with gears 23 on the shafts 11 which carry the first counter roll 6b and the last counter roll 9b in the row in which the counter rolls are disposed one behind the other in the carriage. The gears 23 on each pair of shafts 10, 11 also mesh with each other. Consequently, all of the shafts of the folding and counter rolls 6a9a and 611-911, respectively, are driven by the shaft 5 by means of gears.

Each shaft 10 and 11 is provided with a support roll or disc 26 which is connected to the shaft preferably through the toothed wheel 23. As will be seen from FIGS. 2 and 3, the support roll 26 is fastened to the upper side of the toothed wheel 23 by means of screws 27. The support rolls 26 on the toothed wheel 23 in each pair of shafts 10, 11 are in peripheral engagement with each other and define a minimum distance between the upper ends of the shafts, thereby preventing the teeth of the wheels 23 from getting wedged to each other when thtle1 folding roll moves outwards away from the counter ro The shaft 10 of each folding roll 6a and 9a is mounted, for instance by means of bushings 28, in a sleeve 29 which is laterally displaceable towards and away from the opposite shaft 11 of the corresponding counter roll 6b-9b. The sleeve 29 is laterally acted upon by a spring means which consists of a plurality of superposed resilient rings or washers 30 guided in a spring case 31 on an axially movable shaft 32 having a head 32a which bears on the outwardly directed plane side of the sleeve 29. The outer end of the spring bears upon bottom 33 of the spring case 31 which is screwed to the frame 1 as shown in FIGS. 3 and 10.

A cavity 35 in the frame 1 has guide grooves 34 by means of which the sleeve 29 is guided such as to be displaceable towards and away from the shaft 11. To this end the sleeve 29 has on either side thereof bearing members 36 each of which has a disc or cylindrical portion 37 and a straight portion 38. The disc or cylindrical portion 37 is mounted in a corresponding recess in the side of the sleeve 29, whereas the straight portion 38 is a block which slidably fits the guide groove 34. When the folding roll 6a is moved toward the counter roll 6b, the sleeve 29 will be displaced and simultaneously turned on the bearing members 36 around an axis transversely of the shaft 10, the straight portions 38 of the bearing member 36 sliding along the guide grooves 34. During this movement the support rolls 26 at the upper ends of the appertaining shafts 10, 11 maintain their engagement with each other, thereby preventing the corresponding gears 23 from getting wedged to each other and further preventing noticeable axial displacement of the folding rolls 6a9a relative to the counter rolls 6b-9b.

When the machine is to be used, it is placed at one end of the upstanding flanges 40, 41 of two adjacent sheets 42, 43 which are to be connected by seams (FIGS. 1 and Then the carriage is moved in the direction indicated by the arrow 44 (FIG. 2) such that the rolls 6a, 6b will be disposed on either side of the upstanding sheet flanges 40, 41. In case of single overseaming a portion 45 of one sheet flange extends above the other flange, as shown in FIG. 5. The projecting portion 45 comes into engagement with the conical edge folding roll 60. The rotation of the shaft 5 will be imparted to all of the shafts 10, 11. The rolls 6a, 6b are kept in firm engagement with the sheet flanges 40, 41 by means of the springs 30, and upon rotation of the rolls 6a, 6b by means of their shafts 10, 11 the carriage will be moved along the sheet flanges, while the projecting portion 45 is folded or turned over the sheet flange 41 by the conical face of the edge folding roll 60, as shown in FIG. 5. Upon continued movement of the carriage, the edge folding roll 70 is brought into engagement with the projecting portion 45 which will be turned down against the upper side of the folding roll 7a under the action of the spring 21 which acts upon the arm 16 that carries the roll 70, FIG. 6. The sheet edge 45 is then further turned downwards between the rolls 8a and 8b, the roll 8a having a conical portion to effect this downward folding, as shown in FIG. 6. Finally, the portion 45 is folded inwards against the sheet flange 41 between the last pair or rolls 9a, 9b, as shown in FIG. 7.

Having explained the general construction and operation of the machine, specific reference is now made to FIGS. 9 and showing a device adapted to enable a quick release of the machine from the seam at any desired place along the length of the flanges or seam. Each of the four springs 31 in FIG. 3 is guided in a spring case 31 and shiftable from the operative position shown in FIG. 9 to a retracted position in which the spring does not actuate the sleeve 29 and the respective folding roll towards the corresponding counter roll.

The spring case 31 has a central bore 50 in its bottom 33 for guiding the shaft 32. The shaft 32 has a central threaded bore 51 for receiving a bolt 52 which has a head 53 engaging a recess 54 at the end of a sleeve 55. The sleeve is formed with a wheel 56 for rotating the sleeve between two end positions as will be described below.

Between the bottom 33 and the wheel 56 are two rings 57 and 58 engaging each other by means of cooperating helical cam surfaces 59 and 60. Rotation of one ring 58 relative to the other ring 57 will thus provide axial dis- 1 machine may be lifted. easily from the seam or vice versa,

and be mounted at any place of the seam. To enable the rotation of the cam rings 57, 58 relative each other, the ring 57 has axial projections 61 engaging corresponding holes 62 in the bottom 33. Similarly, the ring 58 has axial projections 63 engaging corresponding recesses 64 in the wheel 56. Thus, when rotating the wheel, the ring 58 is rotated, whereas the ring is lockedagainst rotation by the projections 61 to the bottom 33.

Thus, the'device shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 will enable a rapid release of all folding rolls from their engagement with the seam simply by rotating all wheels 56 about half a turn until'the fiat radial end surfaces 65 of the cam surfaces 59 and 61 rest against each other to hold the rings in their open position.

Vice versa, the springs are again brought to action simply by rotating all wheels 56 back half a turn.

What I claim is:

1. A roof seaming machine for forming standing seams comprising a carriage provided with pairwise arranged rolls being displaceable out from the other roll, the counter roll, which sucessively perform the seaming operation, one of the rolls, the folding roll, of each pair of cooperating rolls being displaceable out from the other roll, the counter roll, against the action of a compression spring which is housed in a spring case secured to the frame of the carriage, characterized in that the compression spring is mounted between a stationary abutment and an axially displaceable abutment which in turn is provided to transmit the spring force to the adjacent displaceable roll, the axially displaceable abutment forming one end of a shaft passing axially through the spring and having its other end connected to a device adapted to rapidly shift the shaft to either of two axial end positions, one of the end positions being the operative end position in which the spring actuates the folding roll and the other end position being a retracted end position in which the displaceable abutment has been retracted from its engagement with the folding roll to provide a free gap between the folding roll and the counter roll.

2. A machine according to claim 1, in which each compression spring is housed in a spring case secured to the frame of the machine and is concentrically mounted on a shaft which at its inner end has a head forming an inner abutment for the spring, the outer abutment for the spring being formed by a bottom of the spring case, the shaft extending through the bottom of the spring case and being connected to a rotatable shifting device comprising two coaxial rings engaging each other by means of helical cam surfaces, one of said rings being rotationally fixed to said bottom and the other ring being secured to a wheel for rotating the ring and effecting an axial displacement of the rings relative one another, the outer end of said shaft being axially fixed to the wheel and the ring to be rotated thereby.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS RICHARD J. HERBST, Primary Examiner 

